MICHIGAN CHARTERS OUTPACE CONVENTIONAL PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS
DETROIT — Scores on this year's MEAP
tests suggest that charter high
school students are improving faster
than their counterparts in
conventional public high schools,
according to The Detroit News. The
News also reported that charter high
school MEAP scores improved more
quickly than, and had now surpassed,
those of conventional public high
schools in Michigan's urban areas.

"This is evidence that choices in
education are improving scores for
kids," said Dan Quisenberry,
president of the Michigan Association of
Public School Academies. According to
the News, 63 percent of high
school seniors in charter schools met
or exceeded state standards on
the MEAP test in reading, an
improvement of 11 percentage points from
the year before. At other public
schools, 76 percent of seniors passed
the reading test, an improvement of 9
percentage points.

Statewide, 38 percent of seniors in
charter schools met state standards
in math in 2004, compared to 31
percent of seniors in urban districts.

This comparison to urban schools is a
reasonable measurement of charter
high schools' progress, say experts,
because charter high schools draw
most of their students from urban
areas.

"What this shows is that charters
both outperformed urban schools and
improved faster than urban schools,"
David Plank, director of Michigan
State University's Education Policy
Center, told the News. "It looks
like charters are proving they can be
more effective in reaching a
population that's been underserved.
But there are still significant
differences, and kids in charters
tend to have parents who are more
involved."

HOLLAND PRIVATIZATION PLAN LEADS TO OUTCRY AT BOARD MEETING
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Grand
Rapids Press reports that a Holland
Public Schools plan to privatize
custodial work led to an outcry from
parents and employees who oppose the
idea at a district board meeting
last week.

Assistant Superintendent of Finance
Jim Sullivan said the district
needs to cull approximately $750,000
from its budget this year. "We
have to consider all cost-saving
options," said Sullivan. "We cannot
afford to function in a
business-as-usual fashion. The decision to
consider subcontracting custodians
could potentially save the district
many hundred thousand dollars per
year."

One concern expressed by those
against the idea was the safety of
students who would be in the vicinity
of custodians hired by private
corporations. Though Board President
Bob Carlson said private workers
would have to meet the same
background-check standards that are
currently in place for custodial
workers hired by the district, many
attending the meeting still opposed
the idea. "I object to
privatization and hope you take every
step, explore every avenue and
exhaust every possibility before you
make a decision," said Sarah
Forster, a Holland teacher.

The district said its budget had been
strained by the cost of new
retirement payments that are being
mandated by the state. The new rules
require that over the next two years,
the district contribute 15 to 19
percent of the salaries it pays to
its staff into a retirement fund.

According to Sullivan, the district
will lose $1 million per year for
the next two years just due to that
mandate. "This is not good news to
have to spend an extra 15 percent on
every dollar of salary we pay this
year," he said.

GROUPS CALL FOR GREATER FUNDING FOR ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
SEATTLE — The Seattle Times reports
that groups supporting
environmental education in schools
have called on Washington state
lawmakers to increase funding for
environmental programs, saying that
environmental education can improve
student behavior and test scores.

The Environmental Education
Association of Washington and Audobon
Washington this month released a
report that gave state government a D
on its support of environmental
education programs. The report was
commissioned by the Washington
Legislature and co-authored by the
Washington Department of Natural
Resources.

Though the state Legislature's
$75,000 grant last year to support such
programs was "a great start,"
according to EEAW President Tom Moore, it
was not enough to meet a state
mandate that requires
"interdisciplinary" environmental
education in Washington schools.

Supporters of environmental education
programs say the programs can
spark enthusiasm in students who are
disenchanted with the traditional
school curriculum. "Math makes more
sense, reading has context, and
science comes alive," John Warjone,
president of the nonprofit Pacific
Education Institute, told the Times.

81 MICHIGAN HIGH SCHOOLS FAIL TO MEET FEDERAL STANDARDS
LANSING, Mich. — Booth Newspapers
reports that state officials have set
a Nov. 8 deadline for 81 state high
schools to comply with sanctions
mandated by the federal government
because of the schools' failure to
meet federal progress standards this
year.

The federal No Child Left Behind Act
places sanctions on schools that
fail to meet annual "adequate yearly
progress" standards for two years
in a row. The 81 high schools and 370
elementary and middle schools in
Michigan that failed to meet test
score standards for two years running
must now provide transportation so
students can attend other schools or
provide tutoring services for poorly
performing students. Funding for
the services must come from the
schools' federal Title I monies.

Experts say that more schools will
fail to make adequate progress in
the future, since the standards will
require higher percentages of a
school's students to pass the
standardized tests. "What these 81
represent is the warning shot to
everyone else that this, too, will
arrive at your doorstep," said Jim
Ballard, executive director of the
Michigan Association of Secondary
School Principals.

DETROIT TEACHERS UNION OPPOSES SCHOOL GOVERNANCE BALLOT PROPOSAL
DETROIT — The Detroit Free Press
reports that following a vote by
members of the Detroit Federation of
Teachers, the union is officially
opposing state Proposal E, which will
decide the future governance
structure of the Detroit Public
Schools.

A 1999 state-imposed restructuring of
the Detroit school district
changed the district's governance
structure from a traditional elected
board to a board comprised of mayoral
appointees and the state
superintendent of public instruction.
On Nov. 2, Proposal E will allow
Detroit voters to choose whether to
revert to the original, traditional
board system or to a modified system
that would allow the mayor of
Detroit to continue to exercise some
power in running the district and
its finances.

According to the Detroit Free Press,
19 percent of the union's 10,500
members voted on the issue, with 54
percent of voting members coming
out in opposition to the proposal. If
the proposal is defeated at the
polls, the district will revert to a
traditional elected school board.

In response to the union's opposition
of Proposal E, Bob Berg, a
political consultant for supporters
of the measure, told the Free
Press, "When we go out and explain
what Proposal E does, the response
has been overwhelmingly positive. ...
People do remember what the old
board was like."

U.S. COLLEGE TUITION RISES MORE SLOWLY THAN LAST YEAR
DETROIT — The Detroit News reported
that a survey of American college
tuition costs found that although
average tuition had increased this
year, the hike this year was smaller
than it was last year.

Tuition at public universities is up
10.5 percent this year, while
tuition at private colleges increased
by 6 percent. Last year, however,
tuition at four-year public schools
increased 13 percent, the first
double-digit increase in ten years.

The News reported that David Ward,
president of the American Council on
Education, hailed the slower rate of
tuition hikes, but called for a
broader discussion of the "quiet
cost-shifting from state support to
tuition that continues in far too
many states." Student aid from
federal sources rose 10 percent above
the inflation rate last year.

Mackinac Center for Public Policy,
"Private Prepaid Tuition Programs
Can Help Make College Affordable,"
September 2001
http://www.mackinac.org/3685

MICHIGAN EDUCATION DIGEST is a service of Michigan Education
Report (http://www.educationreport.org),
a quarterly newspaper with a circulation of 130,000
published by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy (http://www.mackinac.org),
a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan research and educational institute.